Though the money for Acorn Coffee Shop employee Kathryn Thompson’s Disney World vacation was raised on Oct. 5, another update appeared on the GoFundMe page on last Thursday:

“To all of our generous and loving supporters we suggest you tune into watch The Ellen Show on Monday, October 26, you may happen to see some familiar faces!,” the post said.

On Monday afternoon, three Elon University community members made their debut on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” Thompson, junior Taylor Zisholtz and freshman Lucy Smith-Williams all sat down with DeGeneres to explain how they changed each other’s lives.

“This is a beautiful story,” DeGeneres said when they sat down.

Their story began back in September when Thompson asked Zisholtz and Smith-Williams where they were from on a quiet Friday night at Acorn. Thompson wasn’t too interested in Zistholtz’s hometown, a small Phillidelphia suburb, but she was intrigued where Smith-Williams was from.

“When Lucy announced that she was from Florida, her face just lit up, and she was ecstatic,” Zisholtz said on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”

Thompson asked the girls a multitude of questions about how far and how expensive  it was to go to Disney World. She expained her lifelong dream was to bring her grandchildren, son and daughter-in-law to the theme park, but it wasnt’t fesible for her.

“That was my dream, but I just make it pay day to pay day,” Thompson said as she fought back tears and DeGeneres handed her tissues.

The day after hearing Thompson’s wish, the two students started a GoFundMe page. People from all across the country donated to the page, including current Elon students, alumni and people who had heard Thompson at all. Donation amounts ranged from just $5 to $1,000.

In the beginning of October, Zisholtz and Smith-Williams revealed their fundraising efforts to Thompson before her Monday night shift, leaving her shocked and in tears about the good news  — her dream had finally come true.

Both DeGeneres and the audience were amazed by the two students’ ability to raise more than $10,000 to get Thompson to Disney World, which was far greater than their original goal of $6,500.

“There’s a lot of bad out there, and look what you did by meeting someone you didn’t know, helping her make her dream come true,” DeGeneres said. “So thank you for doing that.”

As a surprise, photo company Shutterfly matched Zisholtz and Smith-Williams’ fundraising and gave Thompson another $10,000 to use on the trip.

Both Zisholtz and Smith-Williams embraced Thompson and smiled in disbelief.

What they didn’t expect is that they would be receiving a gift as well. The talk show host awarded the two students a six-day vacation to Turtle Bay Resort in Hawaii. Zisholtz and Smith-Williams were both overwhelmed with emotion.

This goal and dream has brought together an unlikely group. Zisholtz and Smith-Williams didn’t know each other before their conversation with Thompson but have developed a strong friendship from this experience. 

The two also hadn’t interacted much with Thompson before setting up the GoFundMe, which helped keep the secret. But they certainly didn’t walk into the coffee shop that night expecting to end up on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” a few months later.

“It was just a typical Friday night at college, and I was just getting over being very sick, so I headed to get a sandwich,” Zisholtz said.

“I was doing some homework and Kathryn was there,” Smith-Williams said. “She came around the corner and asked us, ‘Where y’all from?’”

That conversation changed everything.

“We were total strangers, but in a matter of hours our lives were intertwined,” said Zisholtz.

Since creating the GoFundMe page, Thompson, Zisholtz and Smith-Williams’ story has been featured on numerous media outlets such as The Huffington Post, USA Today, MTV and Cosmopolitan.

A three-minute clip of the interview, titled “Good Deeds Brewed Daily,” was released early on DeGeneres’ Facebook page Monday afternoon. Since then it has been shared more than 5,000 times and has received more than 50,000 likes on Facebook.

“I love to help deserving people,” DeGeneres said in the caption. “When I see others doing the same, nothing makes me happier.”